Below
by Drown Me In Blue
Summary: Ichigo's just opening his cafe up to the public. He used to be a yakuza heir. It's complicated. (But then, love usually is.)


**Pairing: **_Renji Abarai x Ichigo Kurosaki_

**Music:** Breathe_, by Faith Hill_

**Word count:** ~ 2100

**Rating:** T

**A/N:**_A short piece of WAFF for you all. Pure, sappy fluff with no redeeming factors except Karin being a yakuza princess. And there you have it, ladies and gents—the plot! (That's no joke, that really is just about the entire plot right there.)_

* * *

_**Prompt 52: **__Below_

* * *

"You know, Ichi-nii, your new neighbor's really hot."

Ichigo closed his eyes, hands pausing for a moment on the paper-wrapped sandwiches he was arranging for display. "Karin, I know that we have the same taste in men, and that you're fine with me being gay, and that you're in high school now. But can you _please_ not talk like that?"

Karin grinned, swinging her legs from her perch on the counter. The surface around her was completely covered in baskets of pastries, urns of flowers, and trays of fruits and handmade sweets. "Come on, don't you wanna go see? He looks really cool with all those tattoos. And I betcha he's gay."

A little wearily, Ichigo went back to the sandwiches in front of him. "Oh? Why would you say that?"

She scoffed. "Come _on_, Ichi-nii. He owns a flower shop. Of course he's gay."

"Hmm." Ichigo added a few red and white roses and a spray of delicate ferns to the closest vase, and then settled it in the front window with the pastry display. "Karin, can you get me that sheet pan of cupcakes? And how do you know all of this, anyway? Have you been bothering him?" He looked up, his eyes suddenly narrowing. "Now that I think of it, shouldn't you be in school right now, young lady?"

Karin sniffed and straightened her uniform. "Fine. I see how it is. I come all the way here during my favorite class of the day, to help you set up your new shop, and this is the thanks I get?" She got the tray anyway.

Ichigo smiled and ruffled her hair. "Thanks, squirt. There are some extra cakes in the back from when Uryuu was here helping me prepare. Help yourself."

She made a face. "You need to chase off that four-eyed loser, Ichi-nii. He's just panting after you like a—"

"Finish that sentence and I'll tell Dad you dating an older guy."

"Fine!" She tossed her braid over one shoulder and stalked off towards the back room. "Leave Toshiro out of this! Goat-face doesn't need to hear anything about that!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and called after her, "Bring them out here, and call whatever poor, shell-shocked Arrancar is your bodyguard today. I know you ditched them somewhere, so don't try to play innocent."

Karin reemerged from the other room with the plate and a scowl. "But, Ichi-nii! _You_ don't have a bodyguard anymore!"

He raised one eyebrow. "Karin, I'm twenty-five. I renounced my ties to the family years ago. As far as that world is concerned, I don't exist anymore. But you're the heir. You have to be careful. In reality, you shouldn't even be here."

One of her eyebrows rose in return. "I think we've had this conversation before, Ichi-nii. Goat-face might have let you walk away from the yakuza family, but you can't walk from _our_ family."

As though summoned by her words, the door swung open, and a girl with blond pigtails burst through the opening. "Ichi-nii! Are you getting ready? Are you almost done? Can I help?"

"Hey, Yuzu." With a chuckle, Ichigo caught his sister as she threw herself at him. "Yes, I'm still getting ready, but I _am_ almost done, and I'm good for now. Who brought you here?"

"I did, Ichigo-sama." One of his father's enforcers, an Arrancar, leaned through to door and bowed. "If you would excuse me, I will call Lilynette-san and inform her of where her charge is." His eyes almost, but not quite, flickered to Karin, then down again.

Ichigo nodded back. "Thanks, Tesla, and tell her I'm sorry. I didn't realize that Karin would sneak away like this." He shot his sister a warning look, and she had the grace to flush and look away.

Tesla straightened. "Yes, sir. Yuzu-sama, please remain here for a moment. I will return shortly." With another bow, he slipped outside the door and pulled out his phone.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at his two sisters, who both suddenly seemed to find the cake box fascinating. Then he sighed and shook his head. "I'm going to go set out the signs. Can you two watch the shop? And don't go _anywhere_ without Tesla and Lilynette. Got it?"

"Yes, Ichi-nii," they chorused, Karin somewhat reluctantly. Ichigo smiled at them and ruffled their hair, then picked up the freestanding sign and edged it through the door. Tesla bowed again and vanished inside, one hand on the short sword he wore openly. Everyone in Karakura knew the Arrancar, especially the higher-ranked ones, and Tesla was nearly one of the Numeros.

Ichigo had just finished setting up the outside tables when a black Mercedes pulled up to the curb. The passenger door opened, and a stressed-looking young woman with short, pale green hair leapt out, hurrying past Ichigo and into the shop. Almost immediately, the sound of squabbling started up as Lilynette took offense at Karin leaving her behind, and Karin fought back. Ichigo sighed and shook his head. The two girls were actually good friends, but they fought like cats over the last canary.

Hefting the final pole that would raise the new awning, Ichigo struggled to slide it into the slot. Just as he was about to drop it, a pair of larger, weapon-calloused hands slid into his field of vision, taking the pole from him and settling it securely. Then the man they were attached to smiled up at Ichigo, who was still perched on the ladder, and offered him a hand down.

"Kurosaki-kun. You're looking well. You should come by the mansion and see the men every so often. They miss you."

"You included, Aizen?" Ichigo looked at the brown-haired man in amusement. He was in his "harmless" mode right now, hair neatly ungelled and loose around his face, rectangular glasses hiding the ferocious, calculating intensity in his eyes. Most people, from a distance, would look at him like this and write him off as somewhat nerdy and utterly innocuous.

He wasn't.

As the redhead accepted the assistance off his perch, Aizen chuckled. "Me especially, Ichigo." With a quick smile, he lifted Ichigo's hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles. "We do not meet nearly often enough, now that you have moved so close to Shinigami territory." There was a mild rebuke in his gaze, though he had never said anything about the change. Aizen was entirely too well-mannered for that, despite being second in command to the Kurosaki Family.

"Better business here," Ichigo explained with a shrug, the lie slipping seamlessly off his tongue. "Besides, I'd feel weird coming back to the house just to visit, after leaving like I did."

Aizen sighed, but didn't release Ichigo's hand as he led the redhead back inside the shop. "But Gin misses having you as a sparing partner, as does Grimmjow. And no one but you can make Starrk actually do his work. Must I continue the list?"

"Leave it alone, Sosuke," the woman leaning against the counter chided. "We all miss the boy, but don't use us as a way to get laid."

Ichigo scowled at his long-time friend and one-time bodyguard. "Nel, what are you doing here? I thought Goat-face was keeping you up at the estate to train the fresh meat. And how did you get in here?"

She grinned at him and grabbed him, crushing him into her oversized chest. "Ooh, Ichi! Don't you take that tone with me, you little scamp! But it's so good to see you doing well! And a café! I never would have guessed—though your dear mother _did_ love baking so much!"

Ichigo struggled to get away from the suffocating press of her breasts. "God, Nel! Why do you bother with a sword? You could just smother anyone who attacks you!"

"Aw, Ichi, so cute." She pinched his cheeks as she released him, grinning all the while. "But I'm fond of Gamuza." Then her face became slightly more serious. "You're all right? This place is awfully close to Shinigami territory, isn't it? Should I ask Father to assign watchers here? I'm sure that if I asked, he would—"

Ichigo sighed and rolled his eyes. "Nel, I'm fine. I already cut ties—not that it worked," he added with a growl, looking around at the group of yakuza who seemed to be making themselves at home in his shop. "Besides, the name Kurosaki isn't incredibly uncommon. Even if they do, for some reason, start to frequent the shop, they won't think anything of it."

Nel gave him a doubtful look, then stepped back. "All right," she said. "If this is what you really want." There was worry in her pretty face, since she alone knew just why he had left to begin with, but she didn't bring it up in front of everyone.

Karin's sharp look said that she knew there was more below the surface than Ichigo was admitting to, but she also kept her peace. Instead, she shifted impatiently, then glanced at her watch and winced. "Damn it, I'm about to miss second period. Lilynette, let's go! Bye, Ichi-nii" she called, hurrying out the door.

The green-haired girl rolled her eyes and darted after the Kurosaki heir. "That's what I've been trying to tell you!" she snapped. "Not that you ever listen to—"

The closing door cut off her tirade, and Ichigo snorted softly. He pressed a bakery box into Yuzu's hands and a kiss to her forehead, then stepped back. "You should go, too. Come back and see me later."

She stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. "All right, Ichi-nii. But we'll come back soon." With one last smile, she let Tesla and Nel lead her back to the car.

Ichigo shut the door behind them with a sigh, leaning his forehead against the glass for a moment.

_Family is forever._

He could only hope that that was true.

The sound of the connecting door between the two shops opening drew his attention back, as did the pair of brawny, tattooed arms sliding around his waist and pulling him back against a larger body. He sighed, relaxing into the hold and pressing his hands over the other man's.

Renji sighed into his hair, ghosting his lips over the skin behind Ichigo's ear. "Are you all right?" he asked quietly. "Regretting this?"

Ichigo tipped his head back to rest on Renji's wide shoulder, offering him a small smile. "Regret? No. Never. Do you regret leaving the Shinigami to own a flower shop?"

Renji chuckled and pressed their cheeks together. "Point taken," he allowed. "Still, it's a big change. Think we'll ever be able to tell them?"

The younger man shrugged. "Probably. Nel already knows, and I think Karin will guess sometime soon. After a few years, we'll be far enough gone from that world that no one will care."

With a soft sigh, Renji began to away them from side to side, dancing to the soft music playing in the background. It was soft and warm in his arms, everything Ichigo had thought he would never have until that night three years and one month ago. He thought about that, smiling as he and Renji danced together in the symbol their new lives together.

"How long do you think it took us?" he asked quietly, not even trying to fight his smile. "When we first met."

Renji didn't have to ask what he meant. He chuckled, the sound rumbling through both of their bodies as he tightened his arms. "To fall in love? Maybe two minutes. I don't know—how long did it take you to knock me down and split my lip?"

"About as long as it took you to kick my feet out from under me and pin me," Ichigo countered, then turned in his arms and looked up into his face with soft amusement. "I've never been that glad to land in a gutter."

Large fingers ran through Ichigo's short hair, then pulled his head down to rest in the crook of Renji's neck.

"We should open," Ichigo told him reluctantly, after several moments of peaceful silence broken only by the radio.

"Soon," Renji promised, arms tightening. "Just…one more minute."

Ichigo smiled against his throat, breathing in the musk and spice of Renji's skin.

He could do one more minute.


End file.
